The gross domestic product (GDP) — the economy’s total output of goods and services — fell at a rate of 31.4% in the April–June quarter, representing only a slight change from the 31.7% drop estimated one month ago, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.
The government’s last look at the second quarter showed a decline that was more than three times larger than the 10% drop in GDP the first quarter of 1958, under President Dwight Eisenhower, which had been the largest decline in U.S. history.
The good news is that economists expect the economy to expand at an annual rate of 30% in the current quarter as businesses have re-opened and millions of people have gone back to work. That would shatter the old record for a quarterly GDP increase: a 16.7% surge in the first quarter of 1950, under President Harry Truman. Read more here.